The rods are good but even if I had unlimited money I would go with a Shimano 2000GT mooching reel at 1/10 the price of the Islander MR3. The one important difference is that you can free spool the 2000GT. If you are bouncing bottom at 200 feet deep free spool gets down faster and lets you keep contact with the bottom. Drag is not so important because the advantage of both reels is that you use the side of your thumb and palm as the drag. The 2000GT is all graphite and requires almost no maintenance, we have used two of them for the past 15 years and they still work fine.